NHS Office software for Scotland

Workers at NHS National Services Scotland have been given free software in order to see whether it fulfills the requirements of the organisation.

The NHS Office software, made by Ability Software International, is being used to see whether it could be a workable alternative to the more expensive Microsoft Office products.

Microsoft and NHS Scotland had an Enterprise wide Agreement (EA) until June last year. The three year contract gave software licences for Microsoft Office products to computers used by NHS Scotland.

NHS Scotland decided not to renew their contract with Microsoft, which caused difficulties for staff who were not aware of how to work with non-Microsoft software.

Mark Salveta, head of business advisory group at NHS National Services Scotland, told E-Health Insider: "Most staff only use the basic functions that nearly all office software products provide. This survey will help us identify what, if any, functionality needs to be improved if it is to be used in the workplace."

Salveta added: "NHS Office should meet the needs of the majority of NHS users, and with licences costing a fraction of traditional pricing it could certainly enable huge savings to be made."

The new NHS software offers staff the use of standard office word processing tools, in addition to linking straight to NHSMail and calendars.